A Bachmann Termer Overreach

Rep. Michele Bachmann is out for the race for GOP House Conference chair and has admitted defeat to GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling.

In a statement Wednesday evening, Bachmann said that Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling has her “enthusiastic support for his candidacy” for the top messaging post in the GOP. Bachmann's decision means there will be no contested positions for Republican leadership jobs as the party prepares to take control of the House.

“Jeb has demonstrated his commitment to limited government, reduced spending and lower taxes and he will be a strong voice for the Tea Party’s call for these values,” according to Bachmann’s statement, sent by spokesman Sergio Gor. 

Even though Bachmann's bid only lasted about a week, it serves to illustrate the headwinds a tea party candidate could face in official Washington. Hensarling worked hard to show he was the true conservative in the race and that he was a tea party sympathizer. But Hensarling also played the insider game effectively, rounding up and announcing key endorsements day after day to send the message that the had the race locked up.

Bachmann said she had support from the tea party movement, not to mention conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, but it never appeared to gain traction with House Republicans.

Gosh, I wonder how that possibly could have happened. You mean the GOP establishment is trying to everything they can to keep the Tea Party crazies as legislative backbenchers so they can do as little damage as possible?

Nobody could have seen that one coming.  If you thought it was ugly between the Progressive Caucus and the Blue Dogs on the Dem side, you've not seen anything yet.  The Tea Party Caucus probably isn't going too many of these rejections lying down, and when it comes to actual legislation come January, they're going to expect Speaker Orange Julius to bring their special brand of crazy up for a series of very visible votes.

I'm guessing things are going to get nasty by Easter or so, if not sooner.  There are only so many career Republican lawmakers who happen to be Tea Party friends that the freshman bloc of House Republicans are going to tolerate.